San Diego man pleads guilty to leaving threatening voice mails to Muslim group

SAN DIEGO – A San Diego man accused of leaving a threatening voice mail at the office of a Muslim civil rights organization pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony charges.

John Weissinger entered his guilty plea in San Diego Superior Court to felony charges of making a criminal threat and illegal possession of an assault rifle, and a misdemeanor hate crime charge.

Weissinger, 53, left a threatening voice mail at the office of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR-San Diego, prosecutors said.

According to the prosecution, Weissinger said in his voice mail that he had a lot of firepower and that the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris could occur again. Weissinger also was accused of sending a threatening email on Jan. 15 to CAIR's office in Washington. Prosecutors said police found an AR-15 rifle and a high-capacity magazine at his home.

"Unfortunately there are people like that, and we need to make sure they get a clear message that this is not acceptable," said Hanif Mohebi, the executive director of CAIR-San Diego.

Weissinger told KNSD-TV shortly after his arrest in January that he had been drinking while watching news of the terror attack by Islamic extremists on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery that left 20 people dead, including the three attackers. He told reporters he later regretted his actions.

Neither Weissinger nor his attorney could be reached for comment Tuesday.